300th Post!!! The future

I can't believe this is my 300th post, this is also a post to finally celebrate 150,000 views (actually up to over 155,000 now) and also it is close enough to 3 years since I started the blog I'll throw that in as well. I know overall that doesn't equate to that many posts per month but the number is significantly reduced since I got much better and I am mainly limited to new developments, surveys and patient or professional interviews. But the new project to get monthly updates from a group of patients should help to not only keep everything updated but also to give an even broader view of patient experiences with this condition. I wonder how long it will take to get to 500 or 1000 posts????

When I started the blog the logo looked something like this, I hadn't even seen or read Harry Potter at the time!

There have been a lot of developments since I started the blog, and it is weird to think that in May I will be co-presenting at the International Dupuytren's Conference, shows what you can do when you put your mind to something, though it probably needs to be something you really care about. I have tried to start other blogs but as yet none of them have worked out or even really gotten off of the ground and that is because I care about this blog, this condition and fellow patients and therefore want the blog to succeed. We now have a great Facebook group with patients and doctors and it is good to see the activity and sharing of information that we have going and the interactivity that we all have.

Picture of my orthotics and
normal insoles

Despite the development over the years there remains a post that is number 1 in terms of page-views, comments and just about everything and this is the first post that I created where I tell my story from the beginning. I should really rewrite the post with more flare or in other words a more depth version of my patient experience on Dr Shaffers' website. Certainly when things calm down this will be one of my first posts.






A look ahead:

The famous lump

Of course I cannot be sure what the future holds, there will always be lots to do and a lot of patients to help, a lot of doctors to talk to and clinical trials to follow. I would love to be able to work on the blog full time but of course this is not possible. There are many projects though that I am really keen to initiate or at least research to the best of my ability:

• A patients guide to Ledderhose / Plantar Fibromatosis (as an eBook) and depending on success a Dupuytren's one. 
• An on-line patient database to collect information on all patients over a wide variety of areas to allow analysis on every aspect. 
• Following the "other" patients series (should be starting soon). 
• Analysing and presenting the patient survey results - Will collect sample dataset at the end of the year, it has been an amazing response already. 
• Ask all the websites that say this condition is not painful to get their facts straight.
• Continue to group the Facebook group so we have even bigger group of amazing people to help every new patient that joins. 
• See how the UK Blog awards go and if needed come back stronger next year! 
• ........And I am sure much much more. 

For now I would like to thank everyone for the support they have shown over the last 3 years, all page-views, all the kind e-mails and comments on here and Facebook help to keep me motivated and look to improve the information available. Undoubtedly the highlight of having the blog is the smile I get every time someone tells me the information on the blog changed their lives.